The Modern Hero

I had a conversation the other day, on a the dying social media giant, that got me thinking.

This particular conversation centered around stories, Harry Potter to be specific. We were discussing heroes and villains in that series. Which led me to my own belief, that Snape is the only real hero, and James Potter was one of the vilest bad guys that shows up. I love Snape, because he is a redemption story. Of course this leads to people tearing him down, which is cool. A story is different for everyone that reads it. In it all, there is this one really interesting comment.

Snape was something, something, something (all true points, at least from a certain perspective), you don't get to do the good thing and be the hero.

Since when? By this theory, to be a hero, you have to be perfect. Maybe you get to fail, but you have to be pure of heart and soul. Real heroes, the great ones, have flaws. They don't always do the right thing. Sometimes, we even hate them.

Just to use some examples of the characters I love, all of these larger than life good guys had flaws. Hercules, Cu Chulainn, King Arthur, Lancelot, Roland of Gilead, Harry Dresden, every member of the A-Team (television show) and the ones with the deepest flaws were best, Wolverine, Batman, the Punisher, I could go on but I think I have a good cross section.

It's not just fiction either. Religious leaders (and prophets/Messiahs) have all had flaws, sometimes did bad things. Political and military icons have done terrible things, and are still hailed as heroes to this day. I'm not giving specific examples here because you can think of your own, no matter what side you're on, your hero made some mistakes and did something that you disagree with. But we don't love the idea of them any less.

We have reached a point where many people don't consider a character a hero unless they are flawless. Which leaves us with who? Superman? Let me tell you something, Superman is boring. I love the concept of him, but I don't want to read the comics, because not only is he never in real danger, he's just too much of a damn boy-scout.

It could be argued, and I will argue it, that if someone does not have to work at it, they're not a hero. If someone is following their destiny, they aren't a hero. They're just a yawn inducing pawn fulfilling the will of something outside of them. Give me a good guy with bad intentions. Let me see the lady who burned down an orphanage to avenge her child and now does everything in her power to protect children. Show me the warts, scars, and dark thoughts. A hero has to work at it. Because that shit doesn't come naturally. Altruism, self-sacrifice, putting others before yourself, those things are hard. One must fight against their own self-serving agenda, and sometimes deny their innate desire for self-preservation to give to society in a way that gets their name on the list.

They're even more boring to write than they are to read. But apparently the interesting characters can't be heroes. No matter how much they redeem themselves. No matter how important that right thing they do is.

I realized, this is an echo of reality. As a society, as a whole, we don't forgive anymore. I'm not talking about holding someone accountable, but we will look at a small mistake from years ago and assume someone can never change. Sure, we should want proof, but someone that made a bad comment on social media when it first came out then spent years doing good? Someone who admits they were wrong? Most of the time we tend to think they're hiding that same asshole. Or they feel guilty.

And if they do feel guilty? Isn't that the point? If you feel bad about an action you try to make it right. But we want to be forgiven for our own transgressions, but have those in the spotlight live miserable lives where they suffer for some infraction we will never get past. It's different with people in our lives, and I admit, many people never change. But we tend to believe nobody does. This is the level of accountability we want people we don't know to have. No wonder we expect fictional people to be perfect.

It would be nice if we could think the best of each other. If we could, not forget but, forgive when someone is working to be a better person, admits to a wrong, and starts righting it. Don't get me wrong, if a mistake is made in public, the amends need to be public as well. An admission that we have changed and why should probably be made. Most people never need to do this. They can atone in private. Failing that, can we at least get over judging fictional characters so harshly? Go back to loving the flawed characters, because they are what we can aspire to.

I know I'm going to keep writing them. I can believe in them, even if they aren't realistic. Even if they are bigger than life. They seem like they could exist, because they fall prey to human foibles. Most writers will agree with me on this. Most avid readers will too. Maybe it could echo back the other way, and we could all calm down a little if we let ourselves admit, doing the right thing did make that character a hero. Even if it didn't make up for the villain they were before.